Ludlow Center Historic District

Ludlow Center is a small rural village at the geographic center of Ludlow, Massachusetts, where the town's first meetinghouse and burial ground were placed. Its 27 acres hold twelve buildings, mostly white-clapboarded and modest in scale, with a triangular common at the heart. The 1783-1784 First Meeting House, a late example of the barn-type colonial meetinghouse, anchors the district, alongside Fuller Cemetery, the 1811 Theodore Sikes House, the 1844 Increase Sikes House, an 1865 Greek Revival chapel, an 1866 Italianate house and an 1875 parsonage. Mill development on the Chicopee River from 1810 drew growth to Jencksville, and town meetings and records moved there in 1893. With its civic functions gone, the Center saw almost no development for roughly ninety years. Surrounding wetlands and uplands further insulated it. The area was recognized for its role as the original town center and for its well-preserved village architecture. The district also has archaeological potential.